This week I was due to continue sharing the situation of the Arden Theatre (Titchfield Festival Theatre) and how we had to cancel our proposed production of Risen! The Musical. However, I am going to postpone that as I have just realised that this week is the 10th anniversary of this blog! I thought it would, therefore be nice to share my original post.
Of course, a lot has happened in the last ten years including the filming of Risen! The Musical at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth and very sadly the passing of my school friend, Ray Shulman who was a member of “Simon Dupree’s Big Sound” and then “Gentle Giant.”
Blog February 6th 2014.
People often ask me what I am doing now that I’ve retired from teaching PE at Crofton. Well I have to say life is really great (it was really great teaching as well – most of the time!) I love life with my wife Caroline, I am playing lots of golf (and getting a bit better I think- have to as I have only Bowls left! I play a pretty active part in the life of Holy Rood Church, I mentor students at Crofton and I still have a job for the County monitoring lessons delivered by Coaches in Primary Schools. However, my greatest passion (apart from life with Caroline of course) is writing music. I know that may come as surprise to some and even more of a shock when I say it is Christian music! And no I can’t sing (although I do a pretty good “Living on a prayer” in the shower) or play a musical instrument but music, together with sport has always been a true love of mine.
I’m Director and Trustee of a charity that Mr Mill and I formed – Mustard Seed Songs- www.mustardseedsongs.org.uk which features the songs I have written. We have produced 10 CDs and some of our songs featured on a mini CD attached to the 40th anniversary edition of a Christian publication -Every Day with Jesus of which 80, 000 copies were distributed worldwide. In addition, I wrote a musical called His Story www.Hisstory.org.uk which played at venues such as the Kings Theatre, Southsea, Ferneham Hall, Fareham; and Central Hall, Westminster, London. Proceeds from these events funded young people who have taken time off from their studies to work in the Third World.
I’ve now written a second musical called “Risen!” www.Risen.org.uk the double CD of which is near completion. On Easter Sunday 2013 we staged a pilot production at Holy Rood Church, Stubbington and on Easter Sunday, April 20th 2014 we will be producing a Risen! concert – again at Holy Rood.
I had written songs before but it all really took off when I became a Christian on February 22nd 1999. Anyway, I thought that you might like to share my adventure and so here is the first episode.
Musical Instruments
I was in Year 7- Year 1 it was called in those days at The Portsmouth Technical High School – now City Boys opposite the Coach and Horses pub in Hilsea. A cool guy called Ray Shulman was in my class – he played violin which did not impress me but he also played bass guitar which very much did. In fact Ray and his brothers Phil and Derek formed a band called The Roadrunners – who later became Simon Dupree and the Big Sound with a top ten hit called “Kites ” They then became a prog rock band that were really big in America “Gentle Giant” One of my claims to fame ( the others being Donald Duck impersonations and the well hard character “Ken the Ren”) is that when I was 15 years old the Police caught me on my Lambretta Li 150 scooter with Ray on the back when I had not passed my driving test. We were stopped near his house in Eastney Road opposite a club- “The Birdcage” -www.michaelcooper.org.uk/C/birdcage.htm. We got away with it – won’t tell you how as it was highly illegal- but having a rock superstar on the back of my scooter put my street cred rating up massively- and it certainly needed it – but again that’s another story but suffice to say Pompey Tech School was boys only and although I was pretty good at sport – I did not have a clue about girls- I was seriously shy.
So Ray inspired me to take up guitar – actually no he didn’t- I just mentioned him to name drop! I took up my first musical instrument (there have been two!) because I was asked to by the music teacher at school – Mr Wassell. Yes I played the Dolmetsch Descant Recorder (which I have just found in my loft -see attached pic) and I went to after -school lessons and nearly mastered that well known patriotic tune “The British Grenadiers.” The problem was that because I was seriously shy I needed something cool to make me successful with the fair sex. But even a fantastic rendering of this great tune on recorder could not, by any stretch, be regarded as cool – no I needed an instrument that was cool personified and so my guitar was bought. It was reddy, brown and acoustic although it looked a bit like a Gibson – in fact it could have been the original Gibson Les Paul! So, I got cracking with my Bert Weedon “How to play Guitar” book and was doing rather nicely, having almost got “Good King Wenceslas” sussed. But then all of a sudden “Good King Wenceslas” didn’t sound so “good” My Gibson was out of tune! So off to the music shop in North End to buy something with which to tune it. Now in those days tuners were not the clever technological gizmos available now – no this was more like a miniature Peruvian Pan Pipe. So, the idea was that you blew into one of the pipes and then tuned your guitar to that sound- what! – no way!! How can a sound like that associated with a shipping vessel in fog relate to the ping of a guitar string?? So progress in guitar finished right there and then; although if pressed I can still manage a fair to middling rendition of the first eight notes of “Good King Wenceslas”
Oh you may have wondered if I ever asked Ray Shulman if he would guest on a CD for me – no I never did – not because I thought he would regard himself as too “big a star” to be interested or because he was still cross with me for the scooter incident- no I simply didn’t think he would be interested in Christian music- you see Ray is Jewish!
So how have I managed to write something like 200 songs? Next blog on Thursday 13th I’ll start to tell you how it all began.
Quote of the week
